Reflective Nursing Essay

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Reflective Essay

1500 words

Reflective Essay

In this essay I will discuss a clinical skill, which I have become competent in. I
will use a reflective model to discuss how I have achieved this clinical skill.
The reflective model I am using is Gibbs model of reflection, Gibbs (1988) which uses the following, description, thoughts and feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan. I will do a conclusion, which will discuss my personal and professional development, as well as my reflective skills. The clinical skill I have chosen to is the administration of subcutaneous (subcut) injections. I chose this clinical skill because this was a widely used method of drug administration. I therefore researched subcut injections to expand my knowledge on this skill. I will not breach confidentially and will not use any trust or staff/patient names, from the Code of Professional Conduct NMC (2004).

The first stage of Gibbs (1988) model of reflection requires the description of events. I was asked to administer a drug to a patient via subcut injection. I observed this clinical skill on a variety of occasions, by qualified nursing staff. This was my first time administrating a subcut injection; I was under supervision from a qualified nurse. The drug itself was in a pre-filled syringe needle. I checked it was the right prescription, patient’s details, drug and dosage. The patient had consented for me to administer the injection, from the nurse who was supervising me. I therefore washed my hands (A-lift technique), and put on disposable gloves before administrating the injection. The qualified nurse was talking me through the procedure. I then asked if I could use an alcohol wipe to cleanse the area, because on previous occasions I have observed alcohol wipes being used before giving the injection. The qualified nurse said this was not necessary. I continued with the procedure, without using the alcohol wipe.